Shadows of the Past
- Thread starter Azel
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
- Location
- Germany
It's less about enslaving the poor and more enslaving those nobody of consequence will miss.
...
There is a surprising overlap in those demographics.
Chapter 47: A Man of Wealth
- Location
- Germany
[X] Find Xihuitl. He can tell you more.
1.6.17.10.10.15 - 15th of the White Storm
While you where it first slightly apprehensive of finding a specific merchant somewhere in Tlamaca, it proved ultimately rather simple. After a few tries, you found someone among the merchants on the market who knew him and the quick lie that you wanted to approach Xihuitl to buy something rare was easily accepted. What exactly he trades with, you still have not the slightest idea, but all that mattered was getting the directions to his home.
As you stand before the self same building, you are not quite sure if it matches your expectations or not. It is indeed close to the artisan district, but in a stretch of nothing but ruins that divides it from the nearby slums. Only the slightly overgrown foundations can still be seen, the remaining stones above long ago picked away, probably to repair houses elsewhere. Just a single, two-storied building still stands, surrounded with a rough stone wall. Given the size of the enclosed area, it looks a bit like a tiny village in the middle of the city, complete with a gruff looking man standing guard at the gate.
While you are not the only one traversing the rather bare stretch, the others most likely unskilled workers coming and going to work for the artisans, you are the only one not giving the building a wide berth. Thus the guard sees you coming for a long while and annoyingly seems to have nothing better to do then stare directly at you all the while, making you all the more self-conscious before this meeting. Only as you finally stand nearly before him does he speak to you. "And what do you want here, tribal?"
At least he sounds mostly bored and not actively hostile. Just a man doing his job, so you reply in a even manner. "To speak to your master, Xihuitl. My name is Yaxkin and a common friend told me to come to him for a matter of acquiring something."
He gives you a once over and then just nods before turning around. "He's expecting you. Been so for a few days." With a lazy wave he motions you to follow and thus you walk behind him at the same leisurely pace when he opens the gate. Behind it, you see a curious plot of land. The grass is kept short and in small pockets strewn across it stand flowering shrubs, surrounded by flowers. A few of them you recognize, but most of them elude you, though it looks not as if the purpose of this place is to grow them for anything save to look pleasant. There seems to be no other rhyme or reason for where a given thing is planted. As you draw closer to the house, you note that the engravings on its sides are likewise kept meticulously clean, even when the images clash horribly with what you know about the owner. The walls show scenes of hunting and of war, not trade, giving a small hint at whom this house might have belonged to when it was built.
As the guard opens the door to the house, you are first ushered into a pretty normal and boring corridor, before the next door dumps you into a room even weirder then the outside. You distractedly nod at being told that Xihuitl will meet you in a moment while wondering at the things on display. The walls are hung with richly died fabrics, some with artful pictures of men and beasts drawn on them. One even shows a group of hunters accosting something that can only be a spirit, though you don't recognize what kind. A few wooden cabinets stand on the walls, displaying shimmering stones of all colors, carefully cut into intricate shapes and some set in rings or pendants of silver and gold. Other shelves contain more familiar items like bright feathers, right next to other alien things like shimmering shells and a small plate with matte shining pearls stacked on it.
"I see you are already admiring my collection? Rest assured that I can acquire all these things and more, if something strikes your fancy." You give a small start at hearing the unfamiliar voice and bring you attention back to the door. There stands a man, while not fat, most certainly well fed. Streaks of grey run through his closely cropped beard and hair and the warm smile seems right at home on his round face. In contrast to the colorful display around you, his dark red robe looks almost plain.
"You are Xihuitl I assume?" It's slightly awkward to get caught staring like that, yet he doesn't seem to mind. After a short nod in confirmation, he motions to a set of three chairs sitting near the window, which you missed entirely while admiring the things around you.
"Indeed and you must be Yaxkin then. Matlal told me that you would come." As you sit down, you study him a bit closer. He seems a kind man, but the glint in his eyes gives away that this is mostly a mask he wears. It would take someone cunning to amass the wealth around you and it's unlikely that Matlal would trust any random trader with his business. Which begs the question why someone like him would take the risk of associating with the enemies of the Wise Men.
However, that was a riddle for later. For now, you would have to see what exactly he wanted you to do. Finding a few codizes couldn't be that hard for someone of his means, so there must be a catch somewhere. "Yes, he said I should retrieve a few missing codizes from you, though he didn't say much about how this came about."
"Ah, yes. Quite a vexing story. Have you heard about the theft two months ago? Tlamaca was abuzz with the story." After wracking your brain a bit, you nod. There was some rumor about a thief being caught and brought before the Wise Men for stealing from some vault. "You see, the man managed to acquire a few rather rare texts when sneaking into a ruin that the Wise Men where exploring at the time. Many hidden chambers from before the Fall litter the hills to the north-east of Tlamaca and nearly all of them contain something worth having. Beside the codizes, our enterprising sneak managed to take a quite a bit of gold and jewelry from there and being a clever sort, he hid all of these things in a few places strewn about the city, planning to sell off the codizes and some other artifacts and then leaving for somewhere else."
"I take it that didn't go quite as he wanted."
Xihuitl just sighs and shakes his head. "The good man thought that the codizes should be worth their weight in gold, but nobody could pay such a ludicrous sum, not even me. By the time I managed to haggle him down to a more reasonable sum, the Wise Men had picked up his trail and found at least one of his caches. They didn't care about the material wealth he took, but very dearly wanted their codizes back. He panicked, took as much gold and jewels as he could on short notice and tried to leave Tlamaca. The guards where waiting for him at the city gate, knowing exactly who to pick out among the caravan he tried to hide among."
While you thought it a empty boast when you heard that the Wise Men allegedly know everything happening within these walls, there seems to be some kernel of truth to that assumption. But how did they track that thief so flawlessly that they could even anticipate his panicked flight? Maybe Tezcatl wasn't the only Wise Man hiding among the population, which was not a reassuring thought. Yet at least their information sources where not perfect or you wouldn't have this discussion in the first place. "So they didn't find the codizes? Didn't he tell them where he hid them?"
"That is both the intriguing event and our opportunity in this sordid tale. They didn't find them. He told them about all his hiding places in an attempt to get lenience for his crimes, unsuccessfully I might add, and then guards where quickly moving to empty them out. They got most of the gold back, but the codizes where already gone. If it was pure chance that they where found by someone else or a planned theft, I don't yet know and I've spend quite some money and effort on figuring this out over the last months. Whoever took them is quite adept at hiding his trails. All I know is that the codizes are still within the city, but other then that I'm guessing just as much as the next one."
You sigh and pinch the bridge of your nose. This didn't sound nearly as straightforward as you had hoped for. "Why send me then? I can poke around a bit, but why do you think I can do better then you?" It was not doubt in your abilities, but someone of his means throwing his wealth at the problem should do a lot more good then a single woman who didn't even know that many people in the city, where he had at least occasional contact with the local gangs.
The smile he puts on looks very reassuring, but in his eyes you see cold calculation. "To be honest, I don't know, but Matlal seemed pretty certain that your aid would be invaluable. Why he thinks so, I have no idea, but I have learned long ago not to question him on these things. I've done rather well for myself by heeding his advice and not prying too closely into his affairs. Ah, which reminds me..." As he trails off, he turns around and opens a draw in the nearby cabinet, taking out a small leather bound codex. Not something from before the Fall, but a entirely new tome, though probably a copy of a older text.
"He was also very insistent that, should you have success, you should not try to study them on your own. The material would be too advanced for you, according to him. To make up for that, this here will be your payment." He taps the codex laying on the table between you. "The exact words I'm supposed to tell you are 'A useful skill to have and a good base for further studies'. As I've said, I learned to not pry too closely, so I can't really tell you more about the contents." After giving you a long moment to look at the codex, he pulls it back away. Then he fetches a small pouch from the folds of his robes and drops it in place of the tome. "That are 8 Tlaltepoztli in there, the price I originally wanted to pay for those four codizes. If you can find out who has them, he might be amenable to sell them for that sum or you could use it to bribe people into helping you. I do not care to be honest and whatever you have left afterwards, you can keep."
You are a bit hesitant to take that much money from someone you've me not even an hour ago, but he doesn't stop you from pulling the bag over and opening it. It contains just the sum he said, but where most Tlaltepoztli you've seen so far where tarnished from changing hands so often, these glisten and gleam like freshly forged bronze. "And that's all? Is there nothing else you can tell me that could help me?"
He just shrugs and leans back in his chair. "Sadly not. All my leads seem to go nowhere. I could tell you a bit about the larger gangs in the city, who are the most likely people to have them by now, though that is all. However, if you want to know something specific, just ask. I do not like to disappoint my customers, let alone an old acquaintance like Matlal, so consider my contacts at your disposal for the duration of this business."
What do you do now?
[] Write-In
AN: The knowledge about the gangs he alludes to is the same info-dump you already got in the last chapter from Iciuhca. Since I don't want to write another two dozen info-dump chapter, ask away any questions you have for him and I will answer them in the thread.
- Location
- Germany
Not really. Artisans tend to own a few relating to their craft, but there are no bibliophiles that he is aware off.
People with such inclinations probably just straight up join the Wise Men to gain access to their vast collections.
- Location
- Germany
There where five stashes in total:
1. Cellar of a ruined building in the west of Tlamaca, containing jewels and the codices. This is the missing stash.
2. He entrusted some gold and pre-Fall tools to a friend living in the south. He collected this stash before trying to flee and his friend was taken by the guards. He is either dead or in Xoxo now.
3. A stash of gold and silver in a overgrown park in the south-east. He emptied it before trying to bolt.
4. Burried some tools and jewellery near a farm in the north. This stash was dug up by the guards.
5. The last one contained further gold and silver, hidden in a dry well in the west. Also taken by the guards.
He can give you sufficient descriptions to find each place.
Not really. He can give you contacts for all three major gangs, but none if them had any promising leads.
- Location
- Germany
More ruins. A bit to the west comes the city wall and to the east are the slums. Otherwise nothing noteworthy.
Metrux
Gentle Demon Lord
- Location
- Brasil
Thus we can conclude that, unless someone knew of it beforehand, it was someone who passed the slums that took them... Of course, that's the most probable, but there's also the possibility of: A. Some contrived events made someone find the stash; B. Someone knew of it and went to get; C. A guard or someone that pass through the region saw him and thus took the stash;
So, this doesn't really solve anything, but I think it a fair point to start investigating at the stash.
So, this doesn't really solve anything, but I think it a fair point to start investigating at the stash.
- Location
- Germany
He has no idea. His contacts in the gangs are not terribly well suited to chat up jewelry merchants and he himself is a competitor of them, so he got nowhere when trying to track the jewellery.
Metrux
Gentle Demon Lord
- Location
- Brasil
Does he think we could talk to those merchants? Any advice for dealing with them?
- Location
- Germany
You can certainly try, but he has no advice on how to deal with them. The only thing he knows about the jewellery is that it's all pre-Fall stuff.
Presumably he had contacts who warned him about the guards coming for him, but nobody knows who they might have been. Either the guards got them or they went into hiding.
Metrux
Gentle Demon Lord
- Location
- Brasil
Okay, tentative vote.
[X] After the talk with him go to the location of the missing stash. Search the surroundings and, if possible, the insides. Search for clues on what happened, search for similar close places where something or someone could hide, and search for paths used by guards, gangmembers or other locals.
So, the idea is to start at the beggining, and see if we find anything. Maybe there wil be an easy clue, though I doubt it, and maybe we find nothing. But it's a start, and even finding nothing could mean something, as in closing avenues of what could've happened.
[X] After the talk with him go to the location of the missing stash. Search the surroundings and, if possible, the insides. Search for clues on what happened, search for similar close places where something or someone could hide, and search for paths used by guards, gangmembers or other locals.
So, the idea is to start at the beggining, and see if we find anything. Maybe there wil be an easy clue, though I doubt it, and maybe we find nothing. But it's a start, and even finding nothing could mean something, as in closing avenues of what could've happened.
NeverDies
Classy Coleoptera ಠ_ರೃ
- Location
- Colorado
This talk of the stash being inside some small ruins makes me wonder if maybe a spirit took the codices.
After all, many cultures have some of kind of entity or spirit that's responsible for losing and misplacing small items.
Perhaps a minor one has been living in the ruins.
After all, many cultures have some of kind of entity or spirit that's responsible for losing and misplacing small items.
Perhaps a minor one has been living in the ruins.
Metrux
Gentle Demon Lord
- Location
- Brasil
You notice these particular ruins are part of Tlamaca, right? Like, literally inside the walls. I don't think the Wise Men would let a spirit in here...
NeverDies
Classy Coleoptera ಠ_ರೃ
- Location
- Colorado
I was thinking it could be a spirit of the same power as the first one we ever saw. Something small and powerless, that couldn't be seen unless you knew it was there.
We've already seen that the Wise Men aren't omniscient in their city, so something that went out of its way to stay hidden could slip through the cracks.
- Location
- Germany
[X] After the talk with him go to the location of the missing stash. Search the surroundings and, if possible, the insides. Search for clues on what happened, search for similar close places where something or someone could hide, and search for paths used by guards, gangmembers or other locals.
I don't see any other leads we could follow.
I don't see any other leads we could follow.
- Location
- Germany
I've been struggling to find a way to proceed from here for a while now, since I have the feeling the quest is not really going anywhere.
Sadly, I have no real solution on the horizon. The last few chapters where struggling quite a bit to get written and I have the feeling that it shows in the quality.
Therefore, I have decided to end this quest here, instead of dragging things out.
A thank you to @Duesal for betaing all of the chapters and of course to all of you who participated.
Sadly, I have no real solution on the horizon. The last few chapters where struggling quite a bit to get written and I have the feeling that it shows in the quality.
Therefore, I have decided to end this quest here, instead of dragging things out.
A thank you to @Duesal for betaing all of the chapters and of course to all of you who participated.
- Location
- United States
Thanks @Azel for writing 97K words for this quest. It was a hell of a ride and I really, really enjoyed that spirit battle, especially that we won. It was all worth it for that alone. And you indulging my looting tendencies was great, too.
